China Loans U.S. Neighbors Billions for Oil Development

China also plans to strike a $1 billion trade deal with Mexico and is planning hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Costa Rica, Trinidad, and others as part of China’s strategy to buy influence in the hemisphere, writes Washington Free Beacon national security reporter Bill Gertz.

“China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones,” says Gertz.

Indeed, China has recently sold arms to Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Mexico–each of whom has been unimpressed with the arms’ low quality.

China’s efforts to strengthen ties with U.S. neighbors is said to be a counter move against the U.S’s so-called “Pivot to the Pacific” strategy of tightening economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Asian partners who share U.S. concerns over Chinese encroachment.